


Breathe

by AudreyV



Series: Everything Else is Background Noise [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/F, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Torture, Melinda May Feels, Non-Graphic Violence, Pre-Femslash, Scars, Skye | Daisy Johnson's Superpowers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-14
Updated: 2018-09-14
Packaged: 2019-07-12 03:25:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15986624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AudreyV/pseuds/AudreyV
Summary: Powers were sometimes overrated. She could push a plane off a runway, but without them, she was helpless. Daisy wished, not for the first time, she was more like May.





	Breathe

**Author's Note:**

> I love Melinda May almost as much as Daisy Johnson does. 
> 
> Thanks to PieHeda for awesome betaing. Sometimes I need to be told to lean in to the feels. ;)

Daisy couldn't see what was happening in the next cell, but she could hear.

Eight minutes had passed since she heard May stop struggling, but Daisy knew her fellow agent wasn't dead. She could hear steady, controlled breathing, the same long, steady inhales and exhales May taught her to use to control her emotions.

The breathing wasn't working for Daisy. She kept trying, but between the shackles on her wrists and the dampening collar preventing her from Quaking them both the fuck out of there, she was so angry (terrified) she couldn't even manage a whole breath.

One of the men in the cell with May chuckled. The sound shivered down Daisy’s spine.

She couldn't lose control. Daisy conjured up a memory to calm herself. In it, they were in the gym. Her skin was hot and slick from sparring.May stood behind her, pressed tight against Daisy’s back, her arms around Daisy’s middle and her hands clasped over her heart.

“Just breathe with me,” May murmured. “Feel my chest rise and fall. Slow. Steady.”

“This would be way more meditative if I wasn't so distracted by your tits right now,” Daisy muttered. She felt rather than heard May chuckle.

“You're easily distracted,” May said, lips too close to Daisy's ear. “One day your life might depend on your ability to stay calm. This is a tool to help you do that.”

“Doesn't it seem more likely my life will depend on my ability to land a punch?”

“Both are important,” May conceded. “But one day, we both know you’ll find yourself in a situation you can't fight your way out of. A situation you can't get out of at all. You’ll need to wait.”

“For what?” Daisy resisted the urge to cover May’s clasped hands with her own.

“Extraction. Or an opportunity. But until one of those things comes, you’ll be helpless,” May said. She led them through five cycles of breath before continuing. “Have you ever been helpless, Daisy?”

Daisy wanted to tell May to fuck off and stop digging around in her psyche, but instead she nodded and breathed.

“How did you get through it?” May asked.

“I imagined I wasn't me. I was just a virtual copy and everything that was happening to me was just a simulation. Like the Matrix.”

May’s grip on Daisy relaxed slightly as she seemed to consider this.

“Think of your breathing as a call and response,” May said. “It's the same code, repeating one line and then the other, over and over again until it's all background noise.”

That Daisy could understand.

The sounds of skin hitting skin in the next cell, the rough seam of the shackles, the dust parties dancing in the air, the tang of iron in her mouth — background noise. Daisy drew air in and imagined a stream of ones and zeroes that coalesced into two virtual bodies. One shackled to a wall in a dusty cell, a metal and plastic polymer collar around her neck; the other—

Daisy’s concentration broke at the reminder of May in the next cell. She hadn't seen it, but she guessed it was like this one. Beige walls, a window too high and small to use to escape, a row of shackles along one wall and a stainless steel table, scuffed and dented. She could picture May restrained like she was, minus the collar.

Powers were sometimes overrated. She could push a plane off a runway, but without them, she was helpless. Daisy wished, not for the first time, she was more like May.

May didn't need powers. She could fight off a half-dozen Hydra operatives single-handedly. She could slip out of the shackles in seconds—

Except all Daisy heard was that breathing and—

Ones and zeros. A simulation. Virtual Daisy and virtual May. It was just a test of Daisy’s resolve and her ability to follow May’s instructions. She would breathe and wait.

The scream sliced through her resolve. It was ragged and feral and it echoed through the concrete cell and into Daisy’s chest. She couldn't breathe, couldn't move, totally locked in and submerged in the sound as the bottom of her stomach dropped out.

A second shriek followed the first, but then there was a loud thump and it stopped abruptly. Daisy gritted her teeth and looked up at the shackles. Fear pulsed through her as she listened intently for the sound of May’s breathing in the next cell. Under the murmurs of their captors and the shuffling of feet, that familiar rhythm was starkly absent.

Daisy could no longer wait for an opportunity. She would have to make one.

She expected a snapping sound like a bone breaking, but when she dislocated her thumb it was more of a pop. She yanked her hand free of the shackle and nearly doubled over in pain. (May never even flinched when she did that.)

Daisy twisted her arm so she could reach down the front of her dress. She felt along the underwire of her bra until her fingers pressed against something cylindrical and hard. She maneuvered it through a slit in the fabric, almost dropping it when her swelling thumb refused to cooperate. She caught it before it could clatter down out of her reach.

Disabling the collar would have been easier with two hands, but picking the lock on the other shackle would cost her precious time. Daisy felt the seconds ticking away and forced herself to reach her arm up and behind her neck.

The pointed end of the tool found the latch of the control panel. It popped open. She stuck the tool back into her bra, then felt the mechanism she’d revealed.

It was numeric, with a keypad. Daisy had hoped for something mechanical, although with the way her hand throbbed she guessed that wouldn’t have been simple either. She took a deep breath and offered a silent prayer she’d have luck on her side as she pressed a random button. Nothing. She pressed it twice more.

A low buzz told her she'd guessed wrong. Another desperate mashing of numbers, another low buzz. Tears were leaking from her eyes and running hot down her face.

“You're better than just guessing, Daisy,” May’s voice said in her head. “What do you know about him? What combination would he choose? It buzzes after three digits, so that's your code. You can do this.”

She could do this.

“He's an asshole,” Daisy mumbled. She could almost see May’s scowl. “He's a narcissist. He has more money than God— more money than Stark, even.”

“What else? At the party, before it all went down, what did you see?”

Daisy replayed the event in her head. The uncomfortable heels. The giddiness at going undercover. The oyster bar—

“Forget about the oyster bar,” the May in her head scolded.

May getting out of the limo in a red, full length gown, the slit going the whole way up to—

“Forget about me, too. What did you see?”

“A blonde bag of dicks with too much plastic surgery and a flashy suit, being an asshole to his assistant because she—-”

She took more than ten seconds to restart his phone when Daisy hit the dampener. Somehow he’d gotten his hands on Stark’s tech but—

“He's not a geek. He's just a consumer with a ton of money.”

He wouldn't choose the code. The asshole probably couldn't even set the clock on his microwave. The code for the collar would have been set by the designer in the lab.

“So think like Stark,” Daisy mumbled. “911. 69. What's the atomic number for iron?”

No, she suddenly realized. This wasn't tech Stark would be personally invested in. Bruce Banner would have designed this. And Banner, despite his genius, wouldn't have overthought it.

Daisy jabbed the 0 key with her thumb and then hit 8 and 4 with her forefinger. The collar beeped once and clattered to the floor. She lunged for the other room before realizing her left wrist was still connected to the wall.

The shackle exploded around her wrist, quaked apart along every microscopic fault line. The pieces of metal embedded themselves in the concrete walls. She heard voices in the adjacent cell through a fog as she rushed toward it.

When she burst in, Daisy saw four men, all armed, but her focus narrowed immediately to May.

May, arms bound above her head, her dress in ruby tatters, exposing swaths of skin already covered in angry red blotches. She was soaking wet and her head hung low, with her chin against her chest. She was more pale than Daisy had ever seen her and as still as a statue.

One of the men lunged for Daisy. His rough fingers dug into the flesh of her arm, but she easily flung him back against the wall of the cell with a flick of her wrist. She dropped into a crouch and snagged a gun out of another one’s holster, shooting the three who remained standing with icy efficiency before dispatching the fourth.

Daisy ran to May. She leaned close to cover May’s body with her own, pressing their foreheads together. She shielded May’s face with her hands as she shattered the shackles with her powers, sending shrapnel flying.

Released, May slumped forward into Daisy, who lowered them both gently to the floor. She maneuvered them so she was sitting behind May, her chest against May’s bare back. She wrapped her arms around May’s limp form and pressed her hands flat against May’s chest.

“Come on,” Daisy muttered. She focused intently, hoping to sense a flutter of life, but felt nothing but stillness.

“You've got this,” Daisy remembered May whispering as she tried to manipulate the individual cells in a leaf. When the leaf curled and seeped chlorophyl, they were both disappointed. 

“I can try again,” Daisy had protested but May shook her head.

“No one can expect you to control your powers on that precise a level. We’re not even sure it's possible.”

“I can,” Daisy insisted. She thought she saw something almost like fondness flicker across May’s face.

“I know you can. And if you ever need to, you will.”

With those words ringing through her mind, Daisy clutched May tighter.

“Breathe with me,” she murmured against the clammy skin of May’s neck.

Daisy focused her powers through her hands. She felt the stillness of May’s body and then, faint behind it, the rhythm of her own.

Lines of code. Virtual Daisy and virtual May. A simulation, one she’ll be rewarded for passing. May will beam at her in the locker room, then take her down to the mat so she doesn't get overconfident.

Daisy’s awareness dropped down until the only thing she knew was May's body against hers. She closed her eyes and gently probed the layers of skin, muscle and bone under her hands.

The bits of shrapnel embedded in May’s body resonated at a different frequency. Scars felt different than undamaged tissue, and both felt different than bruised flesh. (Daisy almost lost her focus when she felt how much new trauma May endured, but she concentrated on her breathing and on how proud May would be when the simulation ended.)

Daisy pressed the pads of her fingers hard against the curve of May’s chest, directly over her heart. She pushed a shockwave forward, felt it in her own body, then pulled it back again. The energy waves passed through May without any resistance.

Daisy tried again, and again, and again. She finally felt May’s heart tremble briefly, but then it stilled. She wondered if she was too late.

“Just breathe with me,” Daisy repeated. She manipulated May’s heart to synchronize its movements with her own, and began to force air in and out of May’s lungs.

There was no response. Daisy felt herself losing control. She saw the pulpy leaf in her mind. She squeezed May in her arms and wondered if this was what it felt like to truly fail.

It was all a simulation. Ones and zeros. It couldn't be real. She wasn't ready to be on her own again. There was so much more May hadn't taught her yet.

“Just breathe with me, May,” Daisy begged. She felt herself starting to lose control. Her heart rate increased.

Daisy closed her eyes tighter as the concrete walls started to shake.The glass in the window high above the cell shattered into a thousand pieces, most no bigger than a grain of sand. The door’s hinges groaned once before it went smashing out into the room beyond the cell.

Daisy wailed. The echo called forth the memory of May’s shriek (when May was alive and fighting and Daisy hadn't failed to save her life.)

Everything happened at once. A large crevasse appeared in the wall, letting daylight stream in, chunks of concrete rained down around them, Daisy’s earbud chirped back to life with Jemma’s concerned voice and May gasped and seized against her.

Before Daisy could say a word, she was flat on her back with May straddling her hips and pinning her hands above her head. Daisy was speechless as she looked up into wild, terrified eyes. May relaxed a few millimeters and wet hair brushed against Daisy’s face. It made her shiver.

“Daisy, report,” Jemma’s voice insisted in her ear.

“Come get us, Simmons,” Daisy managed. “Asap. Hostiles have been eliminated but we need medical.”

May looked around the room, taking in the destruction and the blood congealing on the floor.She nodded, then she released Daisy’s arms and collapsed forward onto her chest. Daisy brought her arms up and encircled May’s slight form once again.Her hands rested gently on May’s back, palm against bare skin.She closed her eyes and felt the echoes of the bits of metal deep in May’s body.

“What's this one from?” Daisy asked, fingertips tracing a large c-shaped scar just under May’s shoulder blade.

“Who knows. I don't bother keeping track anymore,” May grumbled.

Daisy moved her hand, worried she'd crossed a line, but May made no attempt to move from where she rested, cheek against Daisy’s bare chest.

“Sorry,” Daisy mumbled.

“I didn't say stop,” May said quietly. She waited until Daisy’s fingers had resumed their even, gentle motion, then exhaled slowly and stilled.

“You suck,” Daisy said several long minutes later.“You said I’d have to wait, but waiting would have killed you. You were wrong.”

“No, I wasn't,” May said. “This wasn't one of the times you were supposed to wait. This time you were supposed to liquify the bad guys and Quake me back to life.”

Daisy glanced over at the pulpy, unrecognizable bodies by the bent doorframe.

“I shot them,” she admitted. “The liquifying was later. And unintentional.”

“Guess you need more practice.”

“Guess so,” Daisy agreed placidly. She pressed a quick kiss to the top of May’s head.

“They told me you were dead,” May said quietly. Her voice was flat, but Daisy felt May’s muscles tense as she spoke.“They said they took what they wanted from you and then killed you.”

“Nobody touched me after they brought us here,” Daisy said. She looked down at her arms, covered in fine concrete dust but unbruised, against May’s battered torso. “Is that why you screamed?”

“You aren't the only one who loses control sometimes.” May propped herself up on her elbow and wiped her face with the back of her hand, leaving a streak of dirt across her face like war paint. “Any idea what happened?”

“If I had to guess?” Daisy gently tugged the strap of May’s dress down, exposing a swollen, rectangular impact mark. “Security baton to the chest at the wrong moment. Lucky for you, you had a human defibrillator next door.”

Daisy’s heart fluttered at the ghost of a smile that played across May’s lips.

“I’m a little sorry I wasn’t conscious for it.”

“For what?” Daisy asked.

“You Quaking me.” 

“Ha. Well, maybe we’ll add that to our workout routine when you’ve healed up.” Daisy threaded her fingers through May’s hair. “I'm so sorry they hurt you.”

May raised her head with great effort to look into Daisy’s eyes.

“I’ll live. Thanks to you,” she added quietly. May held Daisy’s gaze for another long moment before sinking back down against Daisy’s chest with an exhausted sigh.

 

 


End file.
